Skullcandy Presents the TransAm at Park City, Utah: Full Recap!

I was asked to stop announcing at a Dew Tour stop one year after saying that it’s no wonder so many riders from Park City are good all around park and pipe riders because of the simple fact that Park City has one of the best parks and pipes around. Granted, when I made this announcement during pipe qualifiers that weekend, we were in Breckenridge and the marketing people as well as NBC personnel got their panties in a bunch. I refused to retract my statement and to this day still will not. This weekend proved once again why Park City is a great place to ride, it’s because the parks and pipe are perfect.

Jeremy Cooper and his park crew at Park City once again welcomed the Transworld Snowboarding TransAm Tour presented by Skullcandy. Cooper is always somewhat reluctant to have the pictures and video released before the other two big time resorts that follow the Park City stop finish their park designs and builds. Anyone that watched the tour in its entirety, as well as the TWS staff involved will agree that Cooper changed the mini park building game last year and forced the other park builders on the tour to follow suit. He literally raised the bar and the end result was Cooper’s friend, Clayton Shoemaker, taking the Bear build to the most creative height yet. For those that remember, Cooper built a head out of snow, face with sunglasses on the front wearing a Coal beanie. Shoemaker retaliated with a Big Bear head made out of snow, wearing a Coal beanie, mouth agape, fangs flaring, with an opening in the mouth that the riders could ride through.

Cooper and the Park City crew one up’d themselves this year with a mini park build that had just as much personality and rideability. The Coal Headwear beanies were a focus of attention with one sculpted like a Rasta head with a corrugated tube as a mustache. Riders could gap up over the oversized nose on the face and ride the rim of the Coal beanie at the top of the head. Dave Faircloth rode his face off as well as the face of the head wearing the beanie, which earned him the Zumiez Best Trick. Speaking of Zumiez, the Orange Couch was back again this time set up behind a fence gap. The TransAm shreds could jump up over the couch and fence hitting the transition below which measured about a ten-foot gap. They could also hit it at an angle and gap down to the backside of the High Cascade Snowboard Camp mini pipe. Dom Luza didn’t sit on the fence for long and made his name known quickly, just as he’s done in previous TransAm contests, and grabbed third place. It wasn’t just jumping over the fence or couch that made this section challenging, it was the smoke coming from the Ride Snowboards smoking barrel that gave the riders a feeling of jumping through the mist. The Ride Snowboards barrel was set up in a bum’s paradise with trash spread everywhere and a shopping cart on its side. The other notable part was that the park crew put out a mannequin standing over the barrel, warming its hands, and dressed in complete park crew uniform head to toe. Chandler Hunt wasted no time jumping over the barrel, about as tall as him, smoking the rest of the competition.

Just on the other side of the fence close out was the Giro down bar section. The kids could hit a flat bar and gap off or they could ride the down bar to their hearts desire. So close to Valentines Day, Taelor Mattingley stole all the hearts of the spectators as she got intimate with the Giro down bar. The High Cascade Snowboard Camp mini pipe played host to many other features and was painted up like a world championship pipe. Cody Lee put together an Olympic style pipe run and paid his dues to FIS only after stealing second place. Entering into the pipe was the Muscle Milk pole jam. Hailee Mattingley pushed her sister Taelor out of the way and flexed as she jammed it up, lifting third place in the air. Jordan Morse rode through the pipe, jumped up the deck, and tuned up his run on the Skullcandy sound tube. Morse hit the tube hard enough to bust open the eardrum of anyone saying he couldn’t take first place. On the other side of the pipe, the Anon Optics ledge was set up at an angle. Melissa Riitano put the competition to rest, aired out her grievances over the ledge, and counseled everyone on how to take second place.

After the lights came on in Park City, the after party ensued with free pizza. Skullcandy showed up and gave out custom TransAm Aviator headphones to the winners, Coal Headwear kept our heads spinning with custom TransAm beanies, and Giro Helmets kept the party safe with custom TransAm helmets. Ride Snowboards doused winners with snowboards and outerwear while High Cascade Snowboard Camp hooked them up with custom backpacks. Don’t forget the famous TransAm trophies, Zumiez gift cards and the piles of Anon goggles and Drop Gloves. The lovely ladies from Muscle Milk gave out two hundred dollars to Ozzie Henning for the prestigious Muscle Milk Rider’s Choice Award.

Thanks Park City and, sorry, Jeremy Cooper, we had to release the video and pictures pushing the next two stops to step up their game.